A/N sorry I'm a bit late, struggled a bit with gathering motivation this week, I've also been a bit distracted by Bridgerton, I've only just started the 2nd season, so no spoilers please! I hope you enjoy, please leave a review to let me know what you think :)

'Hello mum,' Oliver paused as he listened. 'And you couldn't reschedule?' Oliver sighed. 'I'll be back soon; Mai is with me. It's fine mum, I'll make it clear myself.' Oliver sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose.

'Everything okay?' Mai asked, concerned. She had watched him pinch the bridge of his nose many a time and knew it meant he was frustrated or felt a migraine coming on.

'Mum twisted my arm into going on another blind date the day before she picked you up from the airport. I told this girl I'd contact her about organising another date, but she hasn't heard from me, and she works at BSPR and knows my mum, so she's just turned up at the house.'

'She's there now?'

Oliver nodded. 'She's joining for dinner; mum didn't know how to say no.'

Mai looked down at her wet clothes; her hair and face were a mess, too.

'Does that bother you?'

Mai looked at him. 'No, why? Should it?' Mai considered, 'I mean I don't look the most presentable right now, but people get caught in the rain all the time. And it's early, I'll have time to have a bath and sort myself out first.'

'That's not what I meant... Never mind.' Oliver wasn't fully sure why he asked the question, nor was he sure on what answer he wanted from Mai, but the answer she gave left him feeling dissatisfied.

Mai, puzzled, cocked her head and looked at him but he was avoiding her direct gaze. Instead, she tried another line of inquiry: 'What's she like? This girl, what's her name?'

'She's called Amelia, and she's a pumpkin.'

'She's a pumpkin? What does that mean?' Mai hadn't heard this before; she wasn't sure if it was slang exclusive to English that just didn't translate properly in Japanese. She was learning more and more that English was filled with all sorts of idioms she didn't understand. She knew about people being called bumpkins but didn't think Oliver was calling Amelia a country girl.

She waited, but it didn't seem like Oliver was going to elaborate. It was a habit that he had that irked her to no end. If he didn't feel like replying, he just wouldn't, social graces be dammed. She'd have to ask someone else.

They walked in step with each other, and the silence remained. Mai irritated that he had ignored her, and Oliver pondered over the fact that this strange Mai could let quiet remain for an extended period of time. Usually when he deigned not to reply to her, it didn't take long for her to express her annoyance or indignation.

After a little while longer, they arrived back.

'Oh dear, you're both soaked!' Luella rushed off to grab a couple of towels as soon as she saw Mai and Oliver. 'Here dear,' She pushed a towel into Mai's hands. 'Go and take a bath, dinner will be a little while yet.'

Behind Luella, Mai could see a girl sat at the dinner table. That must be Amelia. She thought to herself. She waved to the girl before heading into the en-suite attached to her room. Oliver watched her go.

A while later Mai came back out, she'd changed into a nice dress and applied some very light makeup. Everyone else was already sat down. Luella gestured for her to sit opposite herself. Martin sat at the head of the table, Luella on his left, Mai opposite her and then Oliver and Amelia were sat opposite each other.

Mai looked over to Amelia and they made eye contact. 'Hello, I'm Taniyama Mai, please call me Mai.'

Mai had been trying to speak in English as much as possible in the Davis household, but it did help that all three of them also spoke varying levels of Japanese. This dinner, she'd have to follow along in English as best she could. It would be good practice for university.

'Hello Mai, its lovely to meet you. Mrs Davis has told me so much about you.' Amelia smiled and Mai noticed that she was very pretty.

She had pale blue eyes that reminded Mai of the sky, and smooth platinum blond hair that was lightly curled and fell halfway down her back. She was wearing a dusty rose dress that complemented her fair skin. There was something amusing to her about the idea of Oliver being susceptible to a blond, but from glancing at him, he couldn't have looked more disinterested if he'd tried.

Mai noticed he didn't have any of his papers or books at the table and she gathered that Luella had likely stopped him from bringing it to the dinner table. Instead, he was focused on his plate, pushing vegetables around. It reminded Mai of a petulant child. She covered her mouth to hide her snigger but his head shot up. He levelled a glare at her, his icy dark blue eyes narrowed in suspicion.

As dinner continued, Mai partook a bit in the conversation here and there but felt misplaced. This was Oliver's date, at his house, Amelia was having dinner with him and his parents. What am I, in this equation? Mai watched Amelia engage with Oliver, she may as well have been talking to a brick wall, for all she got back out of the stoic man, but Mai commended her efforts nonetheless. It was strange, Mai had expected to feel jealous, and she did feel a slight prickle, but it was nothing when compared to what she had felt competing with Masako when she was sixteen.

It was interesting to hear Oliver speak in English at least. She'd heard him speak in English back in Japan, but it felt different now that she was studying English more seriously herself. She could understand more the complexities of being fluent in two languages. Oliver was almost fully bilingual, she briefly wondered if he'd gotten any better with Kanji. It was something he'd struggled with during his time in Japan, even if he did try his best to act otherwise.

During a lull in the conversation, Mai leaned forwards and asked Luella in Japanese, the meaning behind pumpkin being used as slang.

'Did Oliver call you a pumpkin?' She hissed back.

'No, not me.' Mai looked over at Amelia.

Luella followed her gaze, looked back at Mai, and sighed.

Oliver smirked. 'We'll explain it to you later, Mai.'

Amelia looked at all three of them, confused.

'Sorry Amelia, I'm still learning English and sometimes there's things I don't understand.' Mai explained, with a smile, hoping to appease the other girl. She felt bad talking about her in another language, and given how Oliver was acting towards Amelia, whatever pumpkin meant, Mai knew it likely didn't have positive connotations.

'Oh no worries, it's perfectly fine, I enjoy hearing Oliver speak in Japanese anyways. I've heard him speak in Italian before, that was amazing.'

'Italian?' Mai looked at Oliver.

Amelia clapped her hands. 'Yeah, it's awesome. How many languages can you speak again?'

'Four.'

'So English, Japanese, French...' Mai counted off.

'And Italian.' Oliver finished for her. 'And I'm learning Spanish.'

'Wow, that's amazing.' Mai let out a little whistle. She was once again reminded that Oliver was in fact, a genius. Not that his pride or ego would ever let her forget the fact for long.

'Can you say something in French? I think French is so hot.' Amelia asked.

Luella almost choked on her broccoli.

Wow, Mai thought. That was bold. She watched Oliver to see his reaction, but he just went back to pushing food around his plate and acted as if she hadn't spoken.

After dinner started winding down, Luella got up to start making tea, Mai went to follow but Amelia got there first. 'I'll help Mrs Davis.' The young girl said politely.

Luella was about to say no but accepted Amelia's help in the end. She had something she wanted to confirm.

A few minutes later, Amelia touched her hand to Oliver's shoulder as she leaned over him to put a cup of tea in front of him. Oliver flinched, and Amelia had to right the cup quickly to avoid spilling tea everywhere.

'Sorry,' She muttered sheepishly.

Oliver just nodded.

Later, as Amelia was pulling on her coat, Mai overheard Luella hiss at Oliver. 'Do it gently.'

Oliver just sighed and left to walk Amelia to her car.

'Mai dear, come over here.' Luella had moved to the window and Mai followed her. Looking out the window she could see Oliver talking to Amelia at her car.

'What's happening?'

'He's letting her down, gently, I hope.' Mai looked over at the older woman, to see a wistful expression on her face.

Mai turned her gaze back to the pair down below. Amelia seemed upset but didn't seem to be crying. She reached out for a hug and Oliver gave her an awkward half pat on the back before stepping back out of reach.

Luella sighed. 'It's my fault she turned up here.'

Mai turned to face her again.

'I've been trying to get him to expand his social circle and I know plenty of girls who are interested, so every so often, I try to set him up. I know it's bad to meddle, but I worry about him.' Luella went back to watching him. 'I've told him to give people a chance, and not to cut ties immediately after the first date. He can be quite... Direct. I suppose though, that communicates it there and then, doesn't it? Rather than leaving it a bit open ended, with hope, so they turn up at our house. I knew it wasn't going to work as soon as you told me he'd called her a pumpkin.'

'Again with this business about pumpkins…' Mai muttered.

'Oliver has had this habit, since he was a kid. People are either pumpkins, pumpkin people or 'other.' It's hard to explain.' Luella paused briefly before continuing. 'With Oliver, people he thinks are pumpkins are ignored and there are times in the past when he's forgotten they exist. When people are deemed as pumpkins, he forgets what they look like, their names and when they speak to him, he barely answers. Then we have pumpkin people. Pumpkin people are like pumpkins, but for some reason can't be ignored. He remembers these people's names and faces and will respond if spoken to, but again if they're not in front of him, he can forget they exist.'

Mai considered this, did Oliver see her as a 'pumpkin person' and that's why he didn't keep in touch? He forgot I existed when he left Japan. Oliver did speak to her when she spoke to him, and yes, he'd sigh, or call her stupid, but he did answer most of her questions pertaining to the supernatural when she first started at SPR. Of course, he had moments when he ignored her, but the frequency at which he ignored her, was nothing in comparison to the treatment she'd seen him give other people. For this reason, she didn't think she was necessarily a pumpkin, but if she was a pumpkin person…

Luella continued. 'Then there's the others, which is spilt in two. The others are people like teachers he can learn from. If you have something to impart, he's a model student, if he can't learn from you anymore, you fall to pumpkin level. The rest are people he deems weak. Noll has always tried to look out for the weak, but the 'others' can be forgotten about, too, if they're not in front of him.'

A lot clicked into place for Mai. He did seem to end up rescuing her a lot during her time working underneath him in Japan, did he see her as weak? Mai wasn't sure which was worse, that Oliver saw her as pumpkin, or as someone that was weak.

'There are some people who don't fit into these categories. Like Gene, myself, Martin, Lin, Madoka as well as a couple of others.' Luella had a look of nostalgia as she reminisced. 'You know, when I first adopted the twins, I thought Noll hated me.'

Mai turned to her. 'Hated you?'

Luella nodded. 'He wouldn't engage with me at all. Gene explained that if you tried to kiss or hug him and he didn't slap you in response, it meant he didn't hate you!' Luella chuckled. 'He doesn't slap people anymore, thankfully, but these days if someone says something foolish but aren't ignored, or they try to hug him and aren't pushed away, it means they're in what Gene called 'the inner group'. These people can't be ignored or forgotten. Even if they do or say silly things, they're forgiven.' Luella sighed. 'I did a silly thing to him today with Amelia.'

Oliver came back up the stairs.

Luella immediately went over to him and wrapped him in a hug. 'I'm sorry Noll, I didn't expect her to turn up her, but she was so excited to see you! I didn't know what to say, so I told her to stay for dinner.'

Oliver half hugged her back. 'It's alright.'

'Next time, if you're on a date and you don't like them, you can just tell them then and there that there won't be a second date.' Luella seemed to consider. 'Long as you aren't rude!'

Oliver sighed and ran his hand through his hair, something he only did when he was really frustrated. 'So, there will be more dates.' He caught sight of Mai lingering by the window. 'Mai, tea.'

'Noll!' Luella rebuked, 'Manners!'

'Please, Mai.' Mai noted how drained he looked in that moment, and nodded.

Luella smiled to herself; happy she'd got him to say please.

Oliver sat down at the dining table and leaned back in his chair, his arm covering his eyes.

Mai went to retrieve the mug of tea Amelia had put in front of him earlier. 'You didn't touch this cup of tea!' Mai waited but he didn't respond. 'Not up to your standards?' Mai complained at him, but she whisked the cup into the kitchen, anyway, muttering about narcissistic tea addicts as she went.

Oliver lifted his arm off his head and watched as she grumbled about in the kitchen, evidently amused by her antics.

Luella could see that Amelia was a pumpkin to Oliver, but she didn't think Oliver knew where Mai sat in his categories. Maybe I ought to test that a little. The matriarch thought to herself. For now, though, she decided to quietly make herself scarce.

Mai handed Oliver his tea and he nodded in thanks.

'Your mum explained the pumpkin thing to me.'

Oliver smirked. 'I didn't expect you to ask what it meant to my mum, over dinner.'

'How was I supposed to know? There are all kinds of weird colloquial slang! I keep note of stuff I don't understand so I can ask later.'

'Next time you get stuck on a word, come to me.'

'Oliver, am I a pumpkin to you?' Mai felt viscerally that she really cared about the answer to this question, although she wasn't sure why. She clenched her hands into fists under the table but tried to look unaffected on the surface.

Oliver looked at her, an unreadable expression on his own face. 'I thought you were a pumpkin to begin with, and then I put you down as a pumpkin person instead.'

So, there was the answer. That was why Oliver hadn't kept in touch, he'd forgotten about her as soon as he'd left the country. Mai felt a lump in her throat.

'...But these days, I'm not sure.'

'What?' Mai asked, she felt her chest tighten.

Oliver shrugged and Mai felt like they were back in the café from earlier all over again. Skirting around each other on thin ice whilst she tried to get him to actually communicate.

'Mai, what is it?' He rested his arms on the table, leaning towards her slightly.

She met his eyes and then looked away. She fidgeted with her hands in her lap. '...Did you forget about me when you left Japan, because I'm a pumpkin person?' Mai willed herself not to cry again.

'You don't need to put so much thought into this. It's a thing I used to do as a child.'

'But you did it today, you said Amelia was a pumpkin.'

Oliver leaned back in his chair again. 'Mai, you're being silly.'

After a while, Mai got up, taking her tea with her. It was apparent him chastising her was the only answer she was getting. She sighed and went to walk away. His next words stopped her.

'I didn't forget about you.' Oliver said.

Mai turned around but Oliver wasn't looking at her, he was watching the rain.

'I didn't forget about you when I left because you're a pumpkin person.' He flicked his gaze back to her. 'I had difficulty with categorising you even before I flew back to England. I think it was hard, because of the way it was all tied up with Gene. The way things work in my head, it is a bit 'out of sight out of mind.'' He took a deep breath. 'Madoka would fill me on how you were doing from time to time. I didn't forget about you.'

From what Oliver was saying, it felt more like Madoka had not let him forget about her. Or maybe he wouldn't have forgotten about her, even without Madako's prompting, given what he was saying. Then again, Mai considered with herself. He'd still ignored her attempts to reach out, he'd explained some of his reasoning but that fact still remained.

'You've been very honest today.' Mai said, reflecting on his words now, and earlier, in the café.

'Feels important.' He looked at her. 'As much as you might think otherwise, I don't actually like seeing you upset.'

Mai stared at him, feeling her jaw falling open.

'I'd much rather wind you up, dummy.'

'Why you narcissistic-!' Mai cut herself off, realising she was playing right into his hands. He was smirking at her again.

She turned around, away from him, a blush deepening her cheeks. 'Goodnight, Oliver.'

'Goodnight, Mai.'

Mai half stomped; half walked to her room.

A/N Thanks for reading, I hope you guys have had a good bank holiday weekend and I'll see you next week :)